


Tenacity

by NevaRYadL



Category: Devil May Cry, Doom (Video Games)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:20:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29495706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NevaRYadL/pseuds/NevaRYadL
Summary: After being plunged into hell, Dante honestly thought that he was going to be stuck with his brother for a very long time trying to get back out. He did not expect to meet an unlikely friend, ally, and maybe more in the dark depths of the underworld.
Relationships: Dante (Devil May Cry)/Doom Slayer | Doomguy
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: Dante Sparda/Doom Slayer, mlm fluff, canon typical violence and gore, mild language, awkward flirting
> 
> Idk I just thought it'd be nice

Being in hell and stuck with his twin brother only sucked for one reason... and that was not the part about being in hell. Because hell, he could deal with. He dealt with it a number of years before managing to crawl his way out to deal with Vergil and then falling back in again. Not to mention he had crawled through Hell-like structures when Vergil had come back and dragged a bit of hell with him back on earth. Hell was _nothing_ , hell was a fucking cakewalk, hell was a leisurely little stroll on a lazy Sunday. Hell wasn't shit.

Trying to work with his estranged twin brother after a botched attempt to defeat him? Give Dante hell any day over that.

"Are we lost?"

"My apologies your majesty, it must have been a right back at that tower of bone, blood and sinew," Dante sighed, cradling Rebellion with his shoulders because he was just too damned tired to deal with fighting demons almost none stop AND dealing with his annoying jackass twin brother of all things.

Vergil glared at him and he glared right back. He really did not have it in him to have patience with the bastard. They had been fighting for who knew how long at this point, and making an attempt back to earth seemed to be taking longer. He did not remember the way he took, nothing looked the same and he swore, if he turned his head, when he looked back, everything looked different. It must have been dumb, blind luck that he managed to find a way last time. This time, he was not so lucky, and he was not sure if that was because hell was mad that he had gotten away once already, or demonkind was especially pissed off at him or Vergil, but it felt like fate itself was fighting them. And all while he was still stuck with his fucking annoying brother. Fuck.

"You know, we got named after characters in 'Dante's Inferno'," Dante said. "So 'Vergil', how about you lead us then? Maybe that name you hate so much will get us out."

"You are not funny," Vergil snapped, marching ahead regardless. Dante was tired of leading anyway and maybe now Vergil would feel an ounce of his agony. Not that he would. Asshole got out of so much, especially as of late. Dante was kinda hoping that his nephew would smack his punk ass father around some more, but oh well… when they go out.

_If they got out._

No, no, there was no use in being pessimistic. They would get out through sheer Sparda stubbornness. The same stubbornness that was the only reason the both of them were alive at this point. The same stubbornness that got Dante out of hell the first time. The same stubbornness that managed to drag Vergil back to the land of the living and back to be a pain in Dante’s neck once again. Sparda stubbornness got them into this mess and it would get them out of it… eventually.

Eventually.

In the meantime, Dante followed his brother for a good long while. They encountered a number of demons and put them all down, because despite it all, they were Dante and Vergil fucking Sparda and still the best demon killers out there. They made it over twisted and gory demonic structures, through them, past them, a few times stabbed them when they turned out to be massive and hulking demons. _Over the hills and through the woods_. All and all until Vergil stopped them.

“That structure looks familiar,” Vergil muttered.

“It’s hell, bro, not the city you destroyed,” Dante snarked, shouldering past his brother to take point again. “It’s not supposed to make sense to torment the assholes stuck here, like us. We can’t just… we gotta just keep going forward.”

“You’ve been here before,” Vergil flatly said as he followed after Dante.

“Yeah. And I got out, somehow. So I know that we’ll eventually stupid our way out of here,” Dante shrugged. “But we gotta keep moving. So, come on.”

They passed a great deal of time like that. One of them taking point for a while and taking them some distance forward. Sometimes into demon fights, sometimes past nightmarish hellscape, sometimes just walking forward for what felt like hours at a time. They rarely spoke, mostly to bicker and argue. Whatever was ‘safest’ to work through decades of hatred, hurt feelings, pain and trauma. Maybe if they were stuck in hell long enough, they would eventually work through their problems, but right now they were going at a snail’s pace to avoid inflicting any further pain on one another. Dante did not hate Vergil as much as he said aloud and Vergil actually had some sense knocked into his head, both by his failed attempt and Nero smacking him around for a bit.

“Fuck me,” Dante grunted, stopping and just falling on his ass.

“Tired?” Vergil asked, turning back to look at him.

“Yes, Vergil, because I’m… forty? Fifty? Asshole I’m fucking old and I’m fucking tired and we’ve probably have walked more than most humans can do in a week without stopping. Give me a fucking break,” Dante grunted out, feeling everything from his soles to his hips ache tenderly.

Vergil grunted, but picked a spot a distance away to also sit down, clutching Yamatao like he was afraid it was going to walk off. Hell, sword might have if Vergil just left it alone for a moment. Dante was pretty sure the universe at large was tired of Vergil’s shit at this point and Vergil had some bad karma coming. Eventually. Right now he sat down, along with Dante, and just tried to rest their tired legs.

“... Nero… he…”

“Yep, your son, didn’t know you had it in you bro.”

“I am going to ignore that.”

“But yeah, he got big and he got strong and now he’s got a decent life, all by his lonesome, despite all the shit,” Dante hummed, taking a long and dirty silver lock and twirling it around a just as dirty finger. “Honestly kinda proud of the little shit.”

“... So am I.”

“Yeah well, when we get out of here, I’m sure he’d actually like to hear that. No joke.”

Vergil just sighed.

They sat for a time, listening to hell around them. Eventually they did get up to start walking again, both feeling an acute ache in their bones as they realized that they would probably be doing this for a very long time. A stinging sensation that was felt both emotionally and physically.

 _Just like Dante and Vergil from the story,_ Dante thought bitterly to himself. _At the very least, I’m not a constantly fainting ass like the Dante in the story. Fuck, and I don’t have a babe I’ll see in hellish torment… man, what I wouldn’t do for a demon that looks hot for five seconds before I have to kill it--_

Vergil put his arm out and grabbed his arm. When Dante turned to see what he was on about, Vergil tugged and he followed, trailing after his brother behind a bone pillar. When he turned to his brother, he saw his brother looking in the distance. When Dante followed his gaze, he did not have to look around long or hard before he saw it. 

Because the first break in the hellish landscape around them was another hellish scene of a man clad in sci-fi green armor and currently tearing demons apart with his massive gauntleted hands. And maybe it was the endless hours walking, fighting and arguing, but hot damn, it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in all of his life. Including his very first pizza with the works. And honestly it only got more beautiful as this man swung around and a demon was bisected and revealed the blade coming out of one gauntlet.

“Vergil…” Dante said quietly, putting one hand to his chest for dramatic effect before letting his head lull back as far as he could. “I think I’m in love.”

“What the hell are you on about--”

“Stay here, Imma get his number,” Dante said, licking his dry lips as he stood and then dashed over.

The armored man had collected quite the crowd of nasties. In order to get to him, Dante had to start hacking and slicing and gunning and generally killing his way through the walls of twisted flesh and twisted beings. Fine by him, he never passed up a chance to show off and impress, and he very much wanted to impress this soon to be new friend of his. Especially if this rocking badass kept killing demons like he was, like he was a well oiled machine with one job and he was going to be the very fucking best at it.

There was a very weird hotness to this man that was ticking all of Dante’s boxes.

So he started making his way over. However, unlike a bar where he needed to shimmy over without laying it on too thick or too thin, this time he was doing what he admittedly did better than doing pick-ups and that was killing demons with flair and style. Using his sword and his guns and his other demonic ass kicking arsenal to his advantage, to string together more and more stylish kills, cutting and slashing and slicing and shooting his way through the demons between him and this mysterious man.

It was in one rather beautiful sweep of Rebellion that he found his back to the armored man’s back. The world seemed to slow down then, the shrill slicing sound of Rebellion cleaving through demons, the sound of the armored man’s sword sweeping across demonic flesh, the demons pressing in around him. It felt weirdly comfortable, in a fucked up sense. Especially since, in that moment, something just seemed to _click_ right then and there wordlessly between the two of them. Dante slid so effortlessly into the beautiful gory rhythm that this mysterious person had going on, that the dance of bullets and carnage was not at all stopped but _amplified_. It took two to tango, and it took two to start making like a hot knife through butter like they were through the demons that threatened to drown them in demonic flesh.

And god, did they tango. It was almost like the few beautiful moments that Dante could get in rhythm with Vergil. Two moving as one in an intricate and deadly dance. But with his brother that seemed all business and weirdly familial affection, with this guy? Fire, rushing blood in his ears, a flush to his face that was bringing him back to the days when he was way younger and he wore no shirt because he felt like hot shit. There was electricity running down his spine and it was almost fucking orgasmic as he moved with this guy like they had been doing this all their lives. Like they were made to move together, made to fight demons together, and maybe Dante _had_ been in hell too long, but he was having the time of his life.

Dante was finishing up another swinging arch of Rebellion when he realized that there were no more demons around them, just a lot of dead ones around their feet. The realization came half a second late as Dante’s feet managed to find a hard bug-like shell of a very dead demon and he stumbled.

He blamed walking for endless hours and being more than slightly delirious from finding someone other than his brother in hell.

Whomever held the blame, however, the armored person snapped around with superhuman speed and grabbed his arm before yanking him up. He must have weighed less than the guy thought or the guy was just that damned strong, because Dante found his chest hitting armor with a solid thump and his breath leaving in a loose ‘whoosh’ as he found himself about collarbone level with this guy. And that was a first. Sure, Dante was not some super tall guy, but he was decently tall and this guy was a good head and a half taller than him. Had to be seven feet tall. Hot damn.

“Dante Sparda,” Dante grinned as he righted himself.

The big man said nothing, just keeping a hold of Dante until he got his feet underneath himself before thumping Dante’s shoulder carefully. When Dante stood straight, the man lifted his hands and started moving them and it took a few signs for Dante to catch up.

“Wait, wait, my ASL is rusty as shit. Slow down.”

The man straightened up, pausing, before starting again, going much slower.

‘I am the D-o-o-m S-l-a-y-e-r.’

“Doom Slayer?”

Dante turned to address his brother, who finally joined them.

“I made a friend!” Dante declared, grinning as he gestured to this magnificent creature. “He’s the Doom Slayer.”

“Yes… don’t you remember stories of him that father told us?” Vergil asked.

“Vergil, do we need to go over the ‘I’m old’ thing again?” Dante asked, utterly deadpan.

“Right,” Vergil sarcastically drawled out and almost made Dante laugh. A sense of humor? Out of Vergil? They really were in hell. “This man is the bane of demons.”

“He sure fought like one, huh guy?” Dante said, throwing the Doom Slayer a grin. Could not see much with the helmet on, though this close he could mostly see the guy’s eyes through the visor. They looked intense as all hell and just quietly regarded the two brothers.

“Less like us and more like ‘the demons have integrated him into their religious doctrine and to them he’s annihilation, extinction, death and misery given shape’,” Vergil continued.

“Oh… hot damn,” Dante muttered, looking this guy over with a new eye. Annihilation, extinction, death and misery given shape? A man so utterly badass he pretty much became a religious boogeyman to demonkind? That was… really, really fucking cool actually. Also explained why the hell he was so good at killing demons too. 

“I think we should let this man go about his work and leave, brother,” Vergil gritted out. “Lest he find something, or someones, nearby that he doesn’t care for.”

“What? Oh… we’re half demons.”

“DANTE!”

“Buuuttt, just like our demon dad, we rejected that shit and we’ve been killin’ them ever since,” Dante grinned lopsidedly.

Vergil tensed, hand hovering near Yamato. But Dante’s gut was telling him something, and turned out to be right, because the Doom Slayer just nodded. Something about the guy seemed reasonable. Not to mention, sure they were half demons, but they were nothing like the assholes they killed in droves. Mite better looking too. Though Dante suspected it was because the guy had some thought that not all demons were bad, especially if they were the talking, demon killing kind of demons.

“Well… small miracles in hell,” Vergil grumbled and made Dante snort. More humor out of Vergil. This was well and truly the end times. “Now, we will be on our way--”

“Do you know the way out?”

“Dante, please stop talking to the demigod of demon killing.”

Despite Vergil speaking up, the Doom Slayer nodded and Dante felt such a goddamn endorphin rush that he honestly could have ripped the man’s helmet off and kissed him. He met a fucking figure of demon death and he knew the way out. Dante’s shit luck was looking up and he let out a low groan of relief, putting his hands together in mock prayer as the Doom Slayer merely cocked his head questioningly.

“Thank god, thank you, thank whomever. I have been stuck here for who knows how long with my asshole brother,” Dante breathed, before righting himself and giving the Doom Slayer a broad grin. “Please, kind sir, lead the way.”

The Doom Slayer nodded again before giving a jerk of his head towards a way behind him. Vergil sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose, but following regardless as the Doom Slayer started leading the way out of hell. Dante gave him a look to keep him quiet as they walked with the man towards salvation.

“Some Vergil you are,” Dante snorted, getting a really dirty look out of Vergil.

The trek out of hell felt a lot like their trek so far. It did not _feel_ like any progress was being made, mostly because hell was a homogeneous landscape of gore, violence and death and demons. At least now it felt like they were heading somewhere with purpose with this Doom Slayer leading them, so the journey was less miserable. If nothing else, Vergil seemed rather… ‘off-kilter’ and less likely to make cutting comments, so Dante was spared that.

They did fight demons. Honestly though, the Doom Slayer threw himself into battles with them so quickly and finished them off so fast that Dante and Vergil just learned to stay out of his way because it was faster to just let him work. It was enthralling in a dark sense to watch him work though. He moved like a fucking storm, crashing into demons and tearing through them with ease and then it was over and they were moving on. A few times, they helped by going after anything flying in the area that clung to the edges and fringes of battle, and one time a particularly hardy demon with a thick and tough hide, they took turns taking slices and shots at it to eventually break into its gory center. But mostly they stayed out of the Doom Slayer’s way.

A chunk of change into the journey, Dante noticed that things around them were changing.

Slowly but surely, the hellish world around them was seeming less and less… well… hellish. Structures started looking less like the art-ified form of whatever the fuck was in a demon’s stomach and more and more like rock structures. Bones being replaced with more rocks and natural formations, gore with that green junk you found on wet rocks, and Dante swore he saw actual normal ass bats flying overhead once. Not only that, but there were less and less demons along the way too, the time between fights spreading out until there just… were none.

“I can’t believe it.”

They were in an actual ass cave. The Doom Slayer motioned ahead and they followed him through the cave system, all the way through all sorts of mites and stuff until… finally… blessedly.

“SUNLIGHT!” Dante yelled, rushing ahead and out of the cave system and out into fresh air that almost made him dizzy. He collapsed to his knees and just flopped onto the ground and relished that he was finally out of fucking hell.

“So… he did it. He really led us out of there,” Vergil said, joining Dante in the sunlight and looking around in something was dangerous close to awe.

Right, the man that saved them. Dante sat up and stumbled to his feet to address the man that was just… standing there.

“You, my big, burly, badass friend… have saved us!” Dante said, going over to the guy. Yep, still very tall. “Hey man, would it be cool if I asked for your number?”

“Dante!” Vergil hissed.

Dante rolled his eyes and turned to address his brother, ready with a snide remark-- when the Doom Slayer tapped his arm. He watched the man fish a grimy and old marker out from somewhere in his armor before reaching for Dante’s arm. One hand carefully shoved Dante’s sleeve up and out of the way, baring skin for a very familiar motion from Dante’s ‘hot shit’ phase of life. Dante grinned as the Doom Slayer scrawled a set of numbers on his skin before the marker was put away. The Doom Slayer tapped his arm again to draw his eyes up before lifting his hands.

‘My friend V-E-G-A answers the phone for me. Free for video calls sometimes.’

“Sweet,” Dante beamed, looking at the numbers quite, dare he say, giddily.

‘Need to go back.’

“Kick demon ass, my guy. I’ll call you,” Dante grinned, throwing the guy a smirk.

Through the visor, Dante saw the guy’s eyes crinkled in what had to be a smile, before he gave them a small wave and went back the way they came.

“Only you would try to woo the incarnation of demonic death given humanoid shape,” Vergil sighed.

“Got his number, all that matters… also where the hell did we come out of hell?”

* * *

Nero knocked on the door again.

“I don’t think he’s home…” Kyrie hummed quietly, adjusting the covered basket in her arms.

“We told him we were coming over. We told him to be here. We brought him free food,” Nero grumbled. “That last one should have worked at least…”

“Well, since coming back from hell, he’s been busy with demon hunting contracts. Maybe he just got held up by one?” Kyrie offered.

Nero knocked again, louder and with more force.

“Knock any harder and you just might take down my door.”

“Fuck! Dante!” Nero yelped, turning to address his uncle.

Dante, splattered with what was probably demon blood, only grinned at the two of them. Behind him was another man in demon blood splattered green armor that the two did not pay much heed. Dante partnered up with some really weird people some time, and he seemed to just be there and minding his business. Was probably just helping Dante with a contract.

“Hello, mister Sparda!” Kyrie just smiled, so used to demon hunters in her life that this was all just old hat to her.

“Hey church girl,” Dante hummed as he pulled his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. “See you haven’t quite softened the ‘punk’ out of punk-ass over here.”

“One day at a time,” Kyrie smiled and made Nero give her a playful frown.

“Make yourselves at home,” Dante said, throwing open the unlocked door and letting the two walk in and out of the way so that Dante and his weird friend could step in, Dante kicking the door shut behind him. “We’re gonna get cleaned up first.”

Dante and his friend went up the stairs where Dante’s bathroom, bedroom and guest room were. Nero and Kyrie deposited the food that they had brought with them on Dante’s surprisingly clean for once desk before settling on his couch. They sat quietly for a moment, listening to Dante and his friend move around their gear upstairs before the sound of Dante’s old shower whined to life even through a different floor.

“... This place seem cleaner?” Nero asked after a few quiet moments.

“Huh… yes,” Kyrie said, looking around. It was an old building, so there was just some unavoidable dinginess, but the room did seem generally cleaner than either of them had ever seen it before. Like it had been dusted, the wrappers and trash picked up and thrown away and vacuumed for once. “Maybe Vergil is making him clean? They work together sometimes.”

“Maybe,” Nero hummed.

“Also he was in hell for a few months, almost a year, maybe something changed?”

“Maybe,” Nero shrugged before settling in with his wife. If the room did not stink like a bachelor pad stank or of enough pizza to make Nero sick of the shit for months, fine by him. Weird and out of character of Dante, but something Nero was willing to accept.

They sat quiet for a moment, hoping that Dante and his friend did not take too long to clean up. Eventually, Nero’s usual anxiousness got to him and he stood up to walk around and idly look. Dante usually mounted weapons from his past and present on his walls and it was interesting to see what demonic weapons that Dante had from his past. Though he had learned to not go near the guitar, getting giggled at once for dragging his fingers along her strings was enough.

It was while he was walking around Dante’s desk, that he saw something bright pink and plastic on the floor. When he looked, he saw a little dish with the world ‘Daisy’ written along the side of it. It had a bit of water in it.

“I think Dante got a cat or something,” Nero hummed, bending down to look at it.

“What makes you say that?” Kyrie asked.

“Water dish with ‘Daisy’ written on it.”

“Huh… Dante doesn’t strike me as a cat or even dog person… more like something that can go in a tank. Like fish or a lizard?” Kyrie said. After a pause, she spoke up again. “I guess a rabbit.”

“What makes you say that?” Nero asked, standing up and turning his attention to her.

Kyrie pointed at the desk and, sure enough, there was a decently sized brown rabbit that was curiously sniffing at the basket that they had brought with them. Surprised and slightly confused, Nero went over to gently pick the rabbit up and awkwardly hold it as best he could as he brought it over to a very delighted Kyrie, who cooed and gently stroked its soft back as it seemed content to be held.

“Huh, wonder what made him get a rabbit?”

“Came with the boyfriend.”

They both turned to see Dante trudging down the stairs and finishing pulling a shirt back on, Sparda white hair sticking slightly with water.

“Boyfriend?” Nero asked.

Dante jerked his thumb further up the stairs with a very self satisfied grin, to a man that was about the same size of the rather large armored person that was with him earlier. A man with very square features and exceptionally muscular and littered with scars and wearing casual clothing. As Dante went over to examine what he had gotten on his desk, the big man came over and made a hand motion at them.

“He would like her back,” Kyrie helpfully filled in when Nero had stared blankly. So Nero gently exchanged the rabbit into the big man’s big arms, allowing this brute of a human being to gently cradle the rabbit as he went back up stairs. They both watched him go.

“The boyfriend?” Kyrie asked.

“Yep.”

“Nice,” Kyrie grinned.

“Where’d the hell did you meet him?” Nero asked.

“Hell.”

“Only you, uncle,” Nero drawled sarcastically while Dante just snorted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Dante Sparda/Doom Slayer, mlm fluff, mentioned cleaning up a filthy room and fridge, mentioned food, mentioned PTSD
> 
> The response on the first chapter was so good, I just had to write more and it was a lot of fun, I'm enjoying this pairing a lot :D

Honestly he should have been ashamed.

Years and years of clients turning their noses up at the state of his office and donning looks of pure disgust, book agents bitching about the smell and disaster and even Nero and Vergil giving him an earful for the state of Devil May Cry. Years of this shit and he hardly ever cleaned the place up. Sure, it was clean-ish when that brat Patty was around, but shit fell into disarray when she moved on with her life and his first venture into hell soon after. 

Years of mess that hardly ever phased him because he really did not mind it.

Only for Dee to crinkle his nose _once_ in disgust in passing and suddenly Dante was finding something to clean every day. 

Picked up all the trash one day, mopped the floors and cleaned the carpet another, dusted and wiped down another. Actually spent an afternoon with a scrub brush on his hands and knees and really got shit cleaned. Not just the office either, but also the upstairs rooms too. Changed all his sheets, blankets and pillow cases, picked up the trash, dusted, cleaned, moped and generally gave the place its first proper cleaning in what was probably a few decades at that point. He tried to not think about it too hard, just kept cleaning the old gal out until it was hardly recognizable.

 _Didn’t that punkass Nero say something about how a girlfriend would ‘straighten’ me out?_ Dante thought to himself one day as he tossed a rag into the garbage can he had dragged over so that he could clean the fridge in his office. No more mystery molds and expired shit that needed tossing. Now just beer, water and Daisy food. He needed to go out for real food to put in it now that there was room and the fear of contamination of anything not in a lead box was out the window.

Crinkling his nose in disgust, he tossed out the trash bag of utter filth he had cleaned from the fridge and replaced the trash can before sitting at his desk and staring at the front door.

Sure, since coming back once again, the demon hunting business was just as good as before. And sure, he was willing to do a few more jobs than usual, if only because a certain other demon killer might be there or might come along and also he had so many goddamn bills to pay. But even booming business had those weird days were no one showed up and it was one of those days. No calls, no news, no nothing, though admittedly he was finally able to clean the fridge out because of it, but still. He would take demon killing over house cleaning any day.

But there were apparently no demons to kill and he had almost completely cleaned the place up. If anything, he was not realizing how bad it smelled before now, if only because he kept thinking about how good it smelled in his officer finally.

With a sigh, he figured he earned a nap, and leaned back in his chair to do just that--

A knock at his door, he sat up right with a small jolt, collecting himself quickly before yelling that the door was open and to come in.

An average looking guy popped his head in.

“Uh… hi.”

“Welcome to Devil May Cry, serving up hot demon death for close to twenty years now,” Dante rattled off. “How can I help you?”

“Actually I uh… this is awkward but uh… do you like, employ a dude in green armor?”

“About seven feet tall and built like a brick wall?”

“Yeah, him!”

“Uh… not strictly speaking, he just picks up random work when he stumbles into it,” Dante hummed. So that was where Dee was, out killing demons and probably the reason that Dante did not have any work that way.

“Oh… I tried to pay him but he refused, thought that meant I was supposed to come here.”

“Nah. Dee, he… where I do this as a sort of a paid service to the city, he just does it because… honestly I think he just enjoys it. If he got you, no need to pay. I’d feel bad for taking the money,” Dante said, waving the guy off.

The man muttered an awkward goodbye and left, leaving Dante to catch that nap of his, taking a gun paper mag out of his desk to lay on his face to block out the light, leaning back in his chair and just letting the exhaustion take him.

* * *

When he woke up, there was a bunny resting his chest. He gently chided the weird thing for managing to get out of her cage once again, before hauling her up into one arm, yawning and stretching and going to put her back in said cage with some food and hay to keep her preoccupied for a moment. When that was done, he pulled his phone out and realized that he had missed a text from Dee by only a few minutes.

[Can I come over?]

Dante whistled as he shot a text back.

[sure thing hot stuff ;)) ]

With the man coming over, Dante figured he had the time to throw together something for him. It was already late enough to warrant dinner, and figuring that he had taken on enough jobs to square up with enough pizza joints to order and he had been working hard lately. So he ordered the works from a local joint, made sure to give the delivery boy a tip when he showed up, made some popcorn and took that up the stairs to the guest room that was also sort of doubling as a makeshift living room. The TV that Dante had unburied from the mess of his office was there anyway, along with a DVD player that he never realized he had gotten at one point, so he set the food on the coffee table that he also found in the mess and went to grab a beer for himself and a few bottles of water (because the Doom Slayer was straight edge, who would have figured, and also he was trying to make a few _tiny_ health changes).

When the big man himself showed up not too long after, got cleaned up and set his armor away for the night, Dante was waiting on the couch (that folded out into a bed, because honestly if he had guests, they really were not expecting much out of him) along with some cheesy movies.

“Hey beautiful!” Dante grinned as Dee plopped his big ass next to his.

‘Good day?’ Dee signed out.

“Boring day, can’t complain. Actually cleaned out the fridge for once,” Dante hummed as he picked up the remote and pressed play, taking up a delicious greasy slice while he was at it and chowing down. “Had some guy try and come in and pay me for something you did, that was almost funny.”

Dee thumbed at his nose, looking sheepish, making Dante chuckle.

They sat in comfortable silence, eating and watching some B flick about a dude that could never quite seem to keep a shirt on, had too many guns, and a lot of bad guys with gallons of painfully fake blood to spill. Just the sort of mindless entertainment that they could both use at the end of a day. Something made nicer when Dee leaned over just a little and Dante scooted over to close the gap, pressing their hips together and letting him soak up all that warmth coming off the massive frame. When he leaned over to put his head on the big man’s big shoulder and felt the big man go to mush against him. 

When the end credits rolled, they both were too comfortable to want to go far, so Dante reluctantly got up to pop in another movie and then went right back to snuggling.

Only to realize as the start started to roll on by and the first of a few cheesy, but quite clearly demons, started popping up that he might have mindlessly picked a really bad movie. Especially when Dee went absolutely rigid beside him and those intense eyes popped open.

“Shit, sorry, sorry, give me a second.”

Dante quickly got up, flipped through the few DvDs he had, before picking an alien one with humanoid looking aliens instead and quickly changing them out and quickly returning. When the new, sci-fi title started to roll, Dee relaxed again.

Dante was really bad at comforting people. He just… he could be sociable with people just fine, be clever and witty and charm the pants off of them. But when it came to deep stuff, he just floundered really hard. He barely took care of his own deep and personal issues, so help people with theirs? Might as well been a greenhorn. Still, he leaned over, putting his weight into leaning into Dee to ground him, keep him there instead of going into his head to those dark corners that Dante could not reach him. And that seemed to help, Dee relaxing against and breathing out once. His lips moved like he was going to actually say something, before he just lifted his hands and meekly signed out ‘thank you’.

“No problem, big guy,” Dante said quietly back.

So they watched their alien movie, just as gloriously mindless as the last movie, easily falling to content and hazy states. And when the movie was over with, it was late and time for bed.

Dee got up to check on Daisy real quick and Dante went to get changed for sleeping. When he was finished up, Dee came around and quickly changed before they eased themselves into Dante’s old mattress. Dante threw his old blanket over the two of them and wormed closer, pressing himself against the brick wall of a being and snuggling close. If there was one awesome benefit (of many) of a boyfriend, it was snuggling while sleeping. Nice and warm (and also deterred the nightmares, but they both kept quiet about those). Dee wrapped a beefy arm around him and they relaxed into a happy pile of limbs.

When the morning came, came a familiar routine. Waking up and finding Daisy snuck into the bed at one point, carefully getting her before she got smushed. Kissing that handsome face until it pinched with waking and those intense eyes finally opened up. Getting up and getting dressed and moving around the building until he was awake. Kissing that handsome face until it was under a helmet and the big man was off to find trouble his size.

A bit before noon, his phone went off.

“Devil May Cry, serving up demon death in a variety of exciting flavors. What’s your flavor today?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Language, mentioned canon typical violence and gore, minor Nero/Kyrie, mentioned food, mentioned poor mental health and PTSD

“It sounds like…”

Dante gave Kyrie a look as she set the mug in his hand to whip around to glare at the direction of her kitchen. Dante snorted as this cute little woman that looked as about as church approved as possible stormed over to the door to the kitchen to stick her head in.

“Someone's bitchin’ in my kitchen!”

Surely enough, Vergil and the infamous Doom Slayer were engaged in a heated debate in sign language. Or, rather, Vergil was angrily signing at Dee and Dee was just casually signing back. At least until Kyrie stuck her head in the kitchen and Vergil wilted underneath his daughter-in-law’s gaze and Dee just dropped it, giving Kyrie a small wave as she frowned at the two of them, though mostly Vergil. When it was clear that the argument was dropped, she finally leaned back out, huffing as she came back out into the living room.

“I can’t believe it took a church girl to whip Vergil,” Dante snorted.

“Vergil is a big softie when you pull him out of his element,” Kyrie huffed as she sat down next to a ‘trying and failing’ to hide his laughter Nero.

“Well thanks for getting him off Dee’s case,” Dante chuckled as he sipped his coffee.

“I don’t get why he’s so ready to fight him, especially since ain’t he like… _the_ demon slayer of all demon slayers?” Nero asked.

“Your dad has an inferiority complex a kilometer wide, kid, he sees the alpha dog and has to go bite its ankles,” Dante grinned, smirking harder when Nero laughed. “Like a chihuahua, only _slightly_ less unhinged than one of those screeching rat catchers.”

Sure, finally get a proper meet and greet with the family with his strange, other worldly new boy toy was a little more rocky than he had hoped, but Dante was having a blast so far. Because so far, Kyrie and all of her short PTA approved self had snapped at both Vergil and Dee more than once and that shit was funny as all hell. Living with a religious cult to his father and then living with Nero and Nico had just removed all patience with demon slayers with her.

Speaking of which, both of said scolded men came out into the living room, Dee looked about as unbothered as could be and Vergil looked rather miffed. Dante just grinned as Vergil took a seat away from Dee as he sat down next to Dante. Hip to hip because that was how they liked it.

“So, can I ask where you learned sign language?” Kyrie asked Dee.

‘Used to work with this group called the Sentinels. When I lost my voice they taught me. I knew a little before that though,’ Dee signed out.

“Oh, you lost your voice?” Kyrie asked.

Dee was quiet for a moment, having that far off look in his eyes, before lifting up his hands again.

‘PTSD’ Dee signed out after a moment.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Kyrie said, lifting a hand to her mouth.

‘It’s fine, it’s fine,’ Dee signed out.

“Hey, you guys managed to get the van fixed?” Dante said, happily moving the conversation away from painful memories while also dragging one of Dee’s massive beefy arms around himself. He knew he did good when Dee relaxed and leaned against him. “Heard about the uh… mishap.”

“Nico needs to stop driving the damned thing like it’s a fucking tank!” Nero said, making sure to turn to yell in the direction of the garage where Nico probably was. “And yeah, we’ve got it. Can’t use the van until she un-gores the front axle enough to remove it and put the new one in.”

“I mean I can’t complain, anyone that can’t get you comes to me and that means more pizza money,” Dante grinned.

“More like un-blacklisting money,” Nero snorted, grinning when Dante gave him a frown.

“Smartass.”

They did have a nice visit. Nero and Kyrie were glad for the domesticity of having family over. Despite how hotheaded and young he still was, Nero had this craving for a normal life alongside his demon hunting one. Dante could understand it. Nero had wanted a family to call his own since he was little and he finally had it and enjoyed all the wonderfully mundane things about it. Apparently even patching up the things with Vergil was going great. And even Vergil seemed to slowly but surely starting to relax and enjoy a much quieter life with his son, daughter-in-law and whatever Nico was to Nero and Kyrie.

“You should stay over for dinner one day,” Kyrie said when Dante mentioned it was about time for him and Dee to go.

“You sure you can feed three Sparda boys and the Doom Slayer, church girl?” Dante laughed.

“I can most certainly try. It’ll be a fun challenge,” Kyrie grinned back.

Dante had kept the demon motorcycle from the rather wild adventure that harkened Vergil’s return. Good thing too, because he was sure that his other one that was still in that abandoned building next door to his shop would not be able to carry both his weight and Dee’s. Sure, the old gal was reliable, but Dee was dense with heavy muscle and Dante just did not trust her to try and carry both of them. The demon one on the other hand he had used as a blunt instrument of demon death and if that bitch could not carry the both of them… nothing would.

Also the pros of riding a motorcycle instead of getting a car like a responsible adult was the absolute joy of Dee sliding up behind him to sit. And given that they were dating, Dee was not at all afraid to slide up until his front was touching Dante’s back and giving him some comfy warmth as they took off back towards the shop.

Once home, Dante put the bike away and they went to get settled for the evening, that meant sitting in the guest room and playing some random movie on the TV. Dante was seriously considering getting cable, because there was something seriously boring about not having much to do when the day quieted down that was starting to give him something that was like an itch only more annoying that he contributed to his getting older. If nothing else, Dee deserved a nice break after going out and killing demons all day. Besides the gift of his company, of course.

They had just gotten settled down when Dee tapped his arm bringing his attention over to the big lug. After a moment of looking, dare Dante say _nervous_ , Dee moved his hands to sign.

‘Does it bother you that I don’t talk?’

“Nope. And I figure you’ll tell me when the time is right for you when you want to talk about it,” Dante shrugged. 

He was bad about talking to people about their feelings. It was not that he lacked empathy, he had a heart no matter what people wanted to say about him. He just… talking to people and comforting them when they were hurt was a fine art that took a lot of skill and time to invest into and Dante’s life had been more or less consumed by fighting demons. There was no time to learn delicate social skills when some demonic asshole was threatening the world.

‘Still can talk, it’s just…’ Dee paused. ‘Difficult.’

Instead of saying something, because honestly Dante had no idea how to respond to that, he reached over and just dragged his knuckles against one hard cheekbone, thumbing at a scar along Dee’s jaw.

“When you’re ready.”

He reached down and took up one of Dee’s hands. Practically baseball gloves, large and the skin calloused and toughened by so much demon fighting and killing, by wielding a goddamn armory of weapons, by living the life that he had so far. Dante brought it over to him so that he could press his lips against the scarred knuckles softly.

“Besides, I like how you say my name with these bad boys.”

When the big brute blushed a soft pink, Dante felt a flush of pride. What do you know, the big badass Doom Slayer looked super cute while blushing. Not that Dante did not think for a second that he would not. Dante wondered if he could get the big man to blush some more, but opted to just lean over and rest his head on one massive shoulder. Dee slid an arm around his waist and tugged him just a little bit closer, giving Dante a reason to smile as they settled in for some mindless movie watching.

* * *

In the morning, just out of the shower, Dante’s phone rang downstairs.

“Yeah, it’s too early for pants, anyone that comes into the shop this early can deal with a towel,” Dante said as he quickly made his way down stairs, holding the towel at his waist. He slid to a stop before his desk and easily flipped the phone into his hand before holding it to his ear, biting back several scathing retorts about the hour of the day.

“Devil May Cry,” Dante settled on instead.

“... Brother.”

“Hey Vergil, to what do I owe the Brood Master callin’ me so early?” Dante said, sitting at his desk but wisely keeping his feet down. Thankfully when he looked over, he saw that the doors were still locked, but with how many times those doors had been kicked in or barreled through, Dante just did not trust them.

“I wished to… apologize to… you know.”

“Damn… you sitting up blood, because that sounded like it hurt.”

“Dante.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dante let the phone fall just a bit, because Vergil still had called him at an ungodly hour so he could deal with Dante’s shout. “Hey babe! Telephone!”

Dee was further along with getting dressed at least. He had on underwear with a towel hanging around his neck. Not a bad look honestly and Dante soaked it up as he took the phone and held it to his ear. Half demon advanced hearing or not, Dante could not really hear what was being said. He just took a moment to shamelessly ogle the boyfriend before heading upstairs to finally get dressed and brush out his hair. When he came back down, Dee was just hanging up the phone.

“So… good talk?” Dante asked, coming up to take the towel and run it over Dee’s short hair, along his neck and ears before simply holding it, looking up at the big man.

Dee nodded.

“Great, because I would hate to have to kick my brother’s ass for being a dick to you!” Dante beamed, standing on his tiptoes to give Dee a peck. Dee snorted. When he shifted to lift his arms, Dante reluctantly leaned back so that he could speak.

‘He apologized for picking a fight. Wants to do better. The main reason is for you.’

“Oh my god, that’s just sweet enough I almost felt something… bastard still gets my ire for one of the many attempts to kill me.”

Dee gave him a peck on his forehead with a grin, completely understanding.

They finished getting ready for the day, Dante doing his little ritual of giving Dee a lot of little kisses before the helmet was pulled on and before the big lug went off to kick demonic ass like it was a fine art form. That just left him to sit at his desk until his phone rang.

“Devil May Cry, demonic pest exterminators for nearly twenty years. How may we help you with your demonic rat problem?”

As some poor panicked bastard started giving him the details about the job and the ugly bastards he was going to go kill here in a moment, Dante let his mind drift for a moment. Thinking about big men with more scars than skin and how cute they looked when they blushed.


End file.
